The funeral service is scheduled for Saturday, November 3, at 9 a.m. at New Birth Baptist Church, 2300 NW 135th Street, Miami.

A 1960 graduate of FAMU, McCrary received a degree in political science. When he studied law at the FAMU College of Law, many doors were still closed to black attorneys. McCrary, who helped organize the Tallahassee sit-ins as an undergraduate at FAMU, went on to open many of those doors. Among his accomplishments were becoming the first African American Assistant Attorney General for the State of Florida and the first African American member of the Florida cabinet since Reconstruction.

In addition to his wife, Jesse McCrary is survived by daughters Bonnye Fields of Atlanta, and Jessica McCrary and Pamela Walton of Miami, and sisters Celestine Woodson and Susan McCrary of Houston, and Alyce Major of St. Petersburg.